شحنات الغاز الطبيعي المسال عبر هرمز تسجل أعلى مستوى منذ بدء الحرب الإيرانية

A total of 21 LNG cargoes are estimated to have exited the Strait of Hormuz in September, the highest monthly number since the Iran war began, yet well below pre-war levels, shipping data compiled by Reuters showed on Friday. Shipment analytics firm Kpler has estimated that 21 cargoes managed to squeeze last month through the chokepoint, which handled one fifth of global LNG supply before the war. This week, three Qatari LNG cargoes from Ras Laffan reappeared outside the Strait of Hormuz, according to vessel-tracking data by LSEG and Kpler. In pre-war times, three LNG cargoes per day were regularly exiting the Strait of Hormuz. Most LNG carriers are traveling in dark mode through Hormuz, making tracking trickier than ever and further complicating estimates about flows and global supply balances. Qatari and UAE cargoes have managed to transit the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks, but volumes are too low to move the needle of the global LNG balance. Even as crude oil cargoes have been pushing through the Strait with millions of barrels per day every day, LNG cargoes have struggled to transit the chokepoint as the gas is trickier to reload in ship-to-ship (STS) transfers than oil. The choked LNG flows from the Middle East in the past six months sent September gas prices in Asia and Europe to the highest since the 2022-2023 energy crisis, as buyers are competing for available supply that doesn’t need to move through the Strait of Hormuz. This week, Qatar extended the force majeure on LNG deliveries to Asia and Europe by another month through the end of November, as LNG cargo traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains largely blocked amid the protracted U.S.-Iran stalemate over the chokepoint and pathways to end the war. Concerns are growing that severely reduced LNG flows from the Middle East would complicate winter gas supply for Europe and Asia, especially if winters are colder than usual. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com

Pakistan’s government is considering allowing power plants and private firms to directly import LNG procured on the spot market as the country has been struggling with an energy crisis since the Iran war crippled Qatar’s term supplies. Pakistan’s Energy Ministry has proposed easing the existing regulation to allow private companies to directly import LNG, a source with knowledge of the deliberations has told Bloomberg. Current regulations do not easily allow private players to tap the spot market, which has long been the realm of the state-owned importer Pakistan LNG Ltd. However, the spiking spot LNG prices amid the Hormuz supply crunch has been putting a lot of strain on the government’s energy import bill and finances. The move is seen as a way to curb government procurement costs and ensuring that more players could be able to participate in auctions for cargoes and for unused capacity at Pakistan’s two LNG import terminals. Pakistan, which relied mostly on Qatari term supply before the war, has had to turn to expensive spot purchases which have pushed its power generation costs higher. Pakistan has been struggling to keep the lights on after Qatar declared force majeure on its exports following Iranian strikes that caused damage to its Ras Laffan LNG export hub. Since then, Pakistan has been forced to turn to spot LNG markets and pay hefty premiums for the occasional shipment. This summer, Pakistan has been paying top dollar for LNG supply as the renewed closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the stranding of cargoes from its term supplier Qatar have forced the South Asian country to seek liquefied natural gas on the spot market. This week, Qatar extended the force majeure on LNG deliveries to Asia and Europe by another month through the end of November, as LNG cargo traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains largely blocked amid the protracted U.S.-Iran stalemate over the chokepoint and pathways to end the war. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com

State-owned QatarEnergy has extended the force majeure on LNG deliveries to Asia and Europe by another month through the end of November, as LNG cargo traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains largely blocked amid the protracted U.S.-Iran stalemate over the chokepoint and pathways to end the war. Qatar’s energy giant, which was the world’s second-largest LNG exporter before the war, has notified customers in Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as at least one buyer in India and Italy’s Edison that the force majeure on deliveries has been extended to the end of November, from end-October previously, sources with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg on Monday. The force majeure for Edison has been extended to early December, the Italian gas and energy supplier said. Last month, Qatar had extended the force majeure for deliveries to Edison until early November, but the protracted blockage of LNG shipments at the Strait has prompted another month of extension of the force majeure. Six months since the Iran war crippled Qatar’s LNG exports via the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s second-largest liquefied natural gas exporter has lost $24 billion in sales as exports tumbled by as much as 96%, Reuters calculations showed last month. The number of LNG cargoes that Qatar has managed to export crashed to just 18, down from 509 cargoes shipped from Qatar in the same period of last year, per data from data intelligence firm ICIS cited by Reuters. Despite the fact that some LNG cargoes from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have recently transited the Strait of Hormuz or engaged in ship-to-ship transfers outside the Strait offshore Oman, the volumes are only a fraction of what Qatar exported before the war. Unlike oil, it is much more difficult to shuttle-ship LNG through Hormuz and then reload the gas via a ship-to-ship (STS) transfer as Persian Gulf producers have been doing in recent months to ship oil to customers with alternative methods and routes. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com